This disclosure relates in general to message delivery and, but not by way of limitation, to delivery of messages for incarceration facilities.
Offenders in correctional facilities can send and receive postal service mail. This mail can take weeks to get through screening that may be performed at a correctional facility. In some cases, the mail can be in a foreign language, which can further delay screening. Screening may include searching for contraband and reading the content.
Correctional facilities are under constant pressure to reduce costs and perform more efficiently. Delivery and control of mail is labor intensive. Legal papers are controlled to restrict review. Often, the legal papers have their envelope opened in front of a prisoner to assure that the legal papers are received without review.
The anthrax terrorist attacks on the postal system in the United States demonstrated how venerable the mail delivery is to this type of terrorist threat. Correctional facilities are vulnerable to this sort of threat and do not lack persons who wish to inflict damage on these institutions. Mail rooms have become the front line for these sorts of attacks.
Offenders are known to use the mail system to pass improper messages. Despite screening, the mail system often misses coded messages and contraband. Manual review of letters is labor intensive and subject to error. For example, the letter may be in a foreign language not understood by the reviewer.
In the appended figures, similar components and/or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label.